Living a Blessed Life

Oh, I wanna be rich - Hold on… This is not what you’re thinking. Yes, I do enjoy the finer things of life, but what I am getting at has nothing to do with material wealth. I have lately been thinking on this topic based on a song by none other than Toby Mac: Rich “I wanna be rich in love, rollin' deep Loaded in friends and family I said I wanna be rich in love, rolling deep Living in sweet diversity Rich, Lord, I wanna be rich!” - Toby Mac Our world and this great nation that we live in, are deeply divided by hate. The thing is, there seems to be a lack of understanding that difficult decisions and change can happen with a foundation of love. Wouldn’t it be great if love would prevail and be the first line of thought before becoming anxiety-ridden and angry with our neighbors over things that have no eternal impact? It seems like we, as a human race, have lost sight of the bigger picture and in our “live-for-today” mindset we allow ourselves the freedom to treat people however...

Happy 2025!! Time is both a gift and a thief. I cherish the time spent with family and friends, and living out my purpose for this life. I look back, however, and realize that we only have a few short years until Toby starts driving, and the girls will quickly follow. Where did yesterday go? This is a little out of order, but I wanted to highlight a fun new tradition that we were included in this New Year’s Eve. In Spain there is a tradition of eating 12 grapes (one for each month of the year) while counting down to midnight. You are to make a wish with each grape you eat, and then you will have 12 wishes made at the New Year. This is to carry through each month of the year so you have a blessed year. Paula’s mom face-timed with us as we ate our grapes (and laughed a lot). She had to wake up early in the morning to join us from Spain, but it was a fun new tradition to share with her and with Paula. We are excited to carry that tradition on in our home. Christmas ...

Music has always been a huge part of my life. I grew up singing to songs on the radio, singing in choirs, singing on the worship team at church, singing with my family as my dad strummed the guitar in our home, and creating our own songs (mostly goofy) that revolved around events in our lives. My brother and I wrote our first song when we were 9 & 10 years old. We shared a bedroom that year, as our parents both went back to college to complete degree programs, and I clearly remember sitting on my bed while my brother plucked out a tune on our dad’s guitar. The theme of the song was this: My brother hates blue jeans! HAHAHA! Seriously, here are the lyrics - “Blue jeans, blue jeans, My brother hates blue jeans, He really hates to wear them…” (repeat) I don’t exactly recall why he was being forced to wear blue jeans but I suspect it had to do with wearing jeans to school or something. This was our big musical debut and from here we broke into the music industry! JUST KIDDING I rem...

Today is what I would call a typical Sunday in our home. We attended church this morning and came home to have a light lunch so we could relax this afternoon. The skies are their regular shade of overcast gray (thank you Minnesota) and as I occasionally look out the window I notice the now exposed squirrel nest in the trees void of leaves. All signs point to BRRRRR!!!!! The MN Vikings football team graces our living room TV and the fireplace does its magical work of keeping me warm and offering ambiance. For those who are still following my updates, you may wonder how I am doing and if I have had any recent appointments. I did, in fact, have my quarterly CT scan two weeks ago as well as my regular panel of labs drawn. I had to wait EIGHT long days between those appointments until I saw my oncologist to discuss the results and how she interpreted everything. I have mentioned previously that I have a bittersweet relationship with the Patient Portal App. This is an incredibly useful to...

I can honestly say that I never thought I would add another member to our household / family. We have a pretty complete family of five, with our three children, Toby, Carina, & Kaiya, but about a month ago we were presented with a fun opportunity to add another to our family. Before you get any crazy ideas, no we did not adopt another puppy (nope, nope, nope, nope). Maple does a great job holding down the position of our family dog. She is certainly more than enough! Rewind to late August at Meet the Teachers night for our kiddos. We walked through schedules and delivered school supplies to each classroom as requested. Finally, we stopped by Mrs. O’s classroom. Mrs. O. is Toby and Carina’s Spanish teacher. They love having her as their teacher, and she also happens to be our neighbor, so the kids have an extra special bond with her. Upon entering her classroom, Mrs. O. mentioned that there would be opportunities this school year to host short-term exchange students. These studen...

You know the feelings that flood in when you enter a space that smells like a memory from your past? When I was young I learned that the sense of smell offers the strongest memory recall. We cannot always put words to the scent, but our brains have this uncanny method of recall, and the reels of our past begin playing. I have recently had this same flood of memories, more strongly associated with songs than scents. Once in a while we will hear a song and it will take us back to a period of time, but sometimes it will transport us to a specific event. I can hear “Bye, Bye, Bye,” and instantly head back to high school (or the answering machine greeting that my college roommates and I used our freshman year-Haha). Sometimes a song comes on that my dad used to play on his guitar, and I see our family sitting in the living room singing along. “Let it be, let it be, let it be, Oh, let it be… Whispering words of wisdom, let it be.” I’m certain you can also relate to this, but it might not ...